Classless presidential hopefuls Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (L), former Vice President Joe Biden (C) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders participate of the seventh Popular primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register at the Drake University campus in Des Moines, Iowa on January 14, 2020.
Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Statues
President Donald Trump has one more distinction he can add to an unprecedented White House tenure.
The president has blown past proper Democratic presidential campaigns in fundraising for his 2020 reelection bid. But the crowded primary field together more than tripled his 2019 gelt haul, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings and campaign statements.
No incumbent president this century has been so methodically outraised by a field of challengers in the year before a reelection contest. The main Republican challengers to President Barack Obama in 2012 no more than took in more than the incumbent in 2011.
Meanwhile, President George W. Bush narrowly topped his challengers in fundraising in 2003, the year prior to he won reelection in 2004.
“The field is trouncing Trump in fundraising and that is unprecedented,” said Sarah Bryner, director of research and policy at the Center for Responsive Politics.
The cash edge reflects a Democratic voter base energized and motivated since Trump’s 2016 choice, Bryner said. She added that the pace of donations could reflect a dislike of Trump more than a fondness for any special candidates — though Democratic contender and prolific fundraiser Sen. Bernie Sanders has a famously devoted following.
Trump even so had a fundraising advantage over any of his potential challengers entering 2020. His campaign said it raised $46 million in the fourth fifteen minutes, higher than Sanders’ $34.5 million, the biggest haul in the Democratic field.
The Trump campaign has had time to hoard cash while rivals in a jammed Democratic primary compete for donors. It had more than $100 million in the bank at the end of 2019. Most Classless campaigns will not announce cash on hand numbers until the end of the month.
The fundraising figures for Trump, his two predecessors and their challengers in the year latest to their reelection bids are listed and visualized below. Total receipts — which include transfers from other race committees — and contributions from individuals are listed separately.
- 2019: Trump had $143.8 million in total receipts, versus $515.6 million for his Representative challengers. That’s 28% of his rivals’ total. In individual contributions, the president’s $76.3 million made up only 16% of the $471.6 million removed by the Democrats.
- 2011: Obama reported $128.3 million in total receipts, 92% of the roughly $139 million received by his GOP rivals. His unitary contributions of $97.4 million made up 72% of the $135.9 million reported by the Republican field.
- 2003: Bush had total gates of $132.7 million, more than the $130.6 million for his Democratic challengers. Total individual contributions of $129.5 million excellent the Democratic field’s $121.7 million.
Methodology: CNBC counted only the challengers who raised more than $5 million from lone contributions during the year prior to the election. At least 14 Democratic candidates hit that threshold in 2019 — around double the totals from 2011 and 2003.
2020 candidates have not yet filed their fourth-quarter 2019 figures with the Federal Nomination Commission, which required the use of rough totals for that period. CNBC added the fundraising amounts released by presidential toss ones hat in the rings for the last three months of 2019 to the total through the first three quarters of the year. A handful of candidates who call oned out of the race — Kamala Harris, Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jay Inslee, Beto O’Rourke and Marianne Williamson — did not hint at fundraising figures for the full year.
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